Unconditional 2.0

As a millennial, I’ve been blessed to see the world from several angles. It seems like only days ago that I remember using paper maps to navigate cross-country trips, rather than use Google Maps or Waze to zip through the traffic and beat your arrival goal time.

When I was younger, I’d write letters to my friends. Real letters. With stamps and handwritten pieces of paper. It really gave you something to look forward to when you knew a letter was in the mail.

Satisfaction is the death of desire.

A lot of things changed with the digital revolution. What used to take months and years now happens in nanoseconds (or real-time) with the help of technology.

Myself included, the millennial generation is used to ordering gourmet food at the touch of a button, swiping through potential dates, and spending enough time in the proverbial mirror to figure out exactly what you want from life — rather than what you’re willing to give. 

Nothing lasts forever and few things really matter. People. People matter. It means more to the universe to see one hungry child fed and given clean drinking water than for another VC-backed widget ringing the opening bell of the NYSE.

I spent a lot of my life waiting to ‘arrive’ at some moment of glory; thinking parts of my selves somehow needed to change or improve in order to feel complete.

I was wrong.

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from this life, it’s the lesson of unconditional love. And I learned it from a guy named Steve, who happened to be my brother.

It wasn’t from a gift he gave me (although he’s given me many) or the words he’s said (also many) but in the way I learned to love him as we got to know each other.

Steve knows just how to make my day. And he does it quite frequently. On one of our adventures, he kept repeating “I have so much more in store for for you…” and he did.

“I have so much more in store for you”

Millennials want to be seen and heard, but aren’t usually willing to listen to others. They’re begging for a world they aren’t willing to offer to others, for fear they’ll lose something they can’t keep.

The greatest gift we can give is the one we can never keep completely to ourselves – unconditional love.

Heaven is where you make it. Hell is the mess you make along the way; often seeing the sins of your past coming back on the wheel of Karma (know your Dharma) to reintroduce you to another opportunity to make things right.

Love everybody, all the time, and don’t stop.

Thanks, Steve. I didn’t know I could love you this much. <3